Theme: Belarus

Belarus is hosting the high-level international conference “Eurasian Security: Reality and Prospects in a Transforming World.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Minsk to take part in the meeting. The Belarusian state agency BelTA frames the meeting as a continuation of Minsk’s role as a platform for dialogue on security.

German police arrested two Belarusian nationals suspected of planning sabotage attacks in southern Germany, the Munich General Prosecutor’s Office said on Wednesday, according to the Straits Times, and Der Spiegel reported they were working on behalf of Russia. The suspects planned to set fire to a building or critical infrastructure facility in the Nuremberg area, the prosecutor’s office said. Der Spiegel reported that Romanian authorities are also investigating the two men for suspected involvement in an arson attack on an industrial park in Brasov on the night of September 14, the site of a defense firm making grenade launchers and ammunition.

Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov said in Minsk on Thursday that NATO’s military buildup will require a timely response from the armies of Russia and Belarus, according to TASS. He spoke at a joint meeting of the boards of the two countries’ defense ministries.

Belarus is prepared to restore verification and early warning mechanisms, as well as other military transparency measures, provided North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries show a reciprocal willingness to do so, Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov told TASS.

Belarus’s Defense Ministry said Belarusian troops are heading to a training range in Russia, where the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will hold drills with its Collective Rapid Reaction Forces, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. The exercises are Interaction 2026, a command and staff drill, Search 2026, for special reconnaissance forces and assets, and Echelon 2026, for logistics, the ministry’s statement said.

The European Union (EU) is weighing measures to curb the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competitions under their national flags, according to reporting by Euractiv. The options under discussion include targeted sanctions, visa restrictions and possible funding curbs; Russian state broadcaster RT reports that the proposals sit in a non-paper by the EU diplomatic service and the European Commission and that no formal proposal by the bloc exists yet.

The foreign ministries of Russia and Belarus said the two countries have called for 25 September 2026, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, the ministerial meeting that launches negotiations on the Eurasian Charter of Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century, according to Russia’s state agency TASS, citing the Russian ministry, and the Belarusian ministry’s press service as carried by Reform.news. The initiative is Belarusian, put forward in 2023, with Russia joining as co-author of the text. The two ministries held consultations in Minsk on 10 September 2026 to prepare the launch of the negotiations. Both governments present the document as a basis for relations among Eurasian states built on sovereignty, equality and the indivisibility of security.